Mutual exclusion control apparatus for mutual exclusion control based on locking and unlocking requests

Abstract

A mutual exclusion control is performed with dynamically, allocated lock variables. A lock request circuit issues a lock acquisition request or an unlock request. A lock identifying information holding circuit holds an identifying information related to a currently valid lock. A lock identifying information comparing circuit judges whether or not a lock identifying information from the lock request circuit is included in the lock identifying information holding circuit. A lock identifying information updating circuit updates the lock identifying information holding circuit on the basis of the request from the lock request circuit.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A mutual exclusion control apparatus for a mutual exclusion control upon receipt of a locking acquisition request or an unlocking request from lock request means, comprising: lock identifying information holding means having at least one entry for holding a lock identifying information for identifying a region indicated by said lock request means as a target of mutual exclusion control;   lock identifying information comparing means for judging whether or not the lock identifying information from said lock request means is included in said lock identifying information holding means; and   lock identifying information updating means for updating said lock identifying information holding means based on a request from said lock request means, wherein   said lock identifying information holding means holds in each entry thereof a processor number related to a processor which has set the lock identifying information of the entry,   said lock identifying information comparing means judges whether or not a processor number related to an unlock request from said lock request means is included in the respective entries of said lock identifying information holding means,   said lock identifying information updating means invalidates any entry for which a coincidence of processor number is detected in said lock identifying information comparing means,   wherein all entries of said lock identifying information holding means determined by said lock identifying information comparing means as including a processor number matching the unlock request are invalidated even if the corresponding processor is unable to unlock, and   wherein said lock request means includes: an instruction register for storing instructions to be executed;   a plurality of registers for temporarily storing data;   a decoder for decoding the instructions stored in said instruction register;   a plurality of instruction latches for holding said instructions in respective stages;   an address arithmetic logic unit for performing arithmetic operations on input operands and for outputting an arithmetic result of the input operands;   a plurality of operand registers for holding the input operands of the address arithmetic logic unit;   a logic address register for holding the arithmetic result of the address arithmetic logic unit;   a translation lookaside buffer for performing address translation; and   an absolute address register for holding absolute addresses.     
     
     
       2. The mutual exclusion control apparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein the region identified by the lock identifying information includes an identification number. 
     
     
       3. The mutual exclusion control apparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein said lock identifying comparing means further comprises: an input register for holding the lock identifying information from said lock request means;   a plurality of comparators for comparing the lock identifying information held in said input register with lock identifying information of said at least one entry of said lock identifying information holding means; and   a plurality of output registers for holding results of the comparisons performed by said plurality of comparators.